Archive for the ‘Movies’Category

Wall•E/Eve 2008 or how I spent my 4th of July

Ok, no, I don’t really want to nominate Wall•E for president, but I did think it was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a really long time. It was also how I started my weekend, so double bonus points. Now, there was someone at work today who shouted hypocrite at me, given my love for Wall•E. You see, there was this movie, Les Triplettes de Belleville (aka The Triplets of Belleville) that had no dialogue in it, although the visuals were quite well done, that I railed against. And given that there’s a good half an hour in Wall•E with no dialogue whatsoever, and about half of the dialogue for the rest of it consists of “Wall•E”, “Eve” and “directive”, I can see why he thinks I’m being a bit two-faced. But in my defense, this movie is about *robots*, and that movie is about *people*! I found it to get a bit strained when not a single person in the 80 minute movie spoke. Ok, there was some singing, but that doesn’t count. For some reason I give robots a bit more of a pass on the non-verbal communication. And the people in Wall•E did, in fact, speak! Anyways, it was hilarious, touching, and a bit surprising in it’s overall tone against the over-consuming, always-connected 24-7 world we live in. Go Pixar! If you’re one of the few people who haven’t seen it, you should. Right now. My roommate who has never seen an animated film in the theaters even loved it.

I got home from that really late on Thurs, and then it was up around 5 to head down to the Cape to catch the ferry to Nantucket. My god was I knackered. I barely slept, since it was my first time staying on the new sleep sofa at my mom’s, and whenever one of the kitties jumped up, I would wake up. So there was a lot of coffee involved with getting me onto the boat. My mother and I always take the slow boat over, which takes 2 hours, as opposed to the catamarans that only take an hour. It’s nice just sitting outside on the ocean for a while. It also helps wake you up a bit! So I was doing better by the time we hit the island.

We went for lunch at our favorite place, the Brotherhood of Theives. We hadn’t been on the island in about two years, and sometime between visits they had expanded the restaurant. It was still cozy and had great atmosphere, but there was an extra section in the back, which was nice. I had a yummy crispy chicken ceaser wrap, which fortified me for shopping. We walked around town a bit. There must have been a dog parade on Main St, because everywhere we looked, there were pups with bandannas or fancy collars. I live vicariously through other people’s pets, so it was great. We had most of our luck on Centre St, especially in Trillium, where my mom got a beautiful ball covered in sea shells, and I got two lotus blossom votive holders that had some antiqued gold plating. We were going to stay until 5:30 or so, but I started getting worn down again, so we cut our losses and jumped on the 3:45 home. The timing worked perfectly, as far as traffic goes, and we were able to breeze home.

When I was leaving her house, we were just able to spy a few fireworks over the trees. I couldn’t see that well, so I headed out. I was almost home, when through the trees by the ball field near where I live, I was able the see the finale of some town’s fireworks. Luckily, no one was around for a few mn, so I was able to pull over and watch. Just as they were finishing up, a car pulled up behind me, and I moved on. I had big plans to go somewhere else exciting on Sat or Sun, but all I managed was to get some shopping done for my vacation in two weeks, and a bunch of chores. Still was a good weekend off all and all.

  

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07 2008

Humorous Holidays

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Hope everyone had/is having a wonderful holiday. Me? I got a whole boatload of books. A number of them are pictured above, as well as the new Murakami, Enslaved by Ducks, and the Museum of Lost Wonder. I also got to pick two pieces of jewelry off of my wish list, so I went with the Ravi cuff from Red Monkey design, and the Square Grillwork necklace from Amy Bengtson Jewelry. Trying to make both my rock’n'roll and my more-responsible-but-still-stylish sides happy. I also gots me the Heroes, so there’s a small possibility I’ll get myself caught up before the second season starts back up in 2008. Hopefully everyone got lots of goodies and no one is keeping warm by burning the coal from their stocking.

Aside from being entirely materialistic, I have actually dragged my lazy behind to the movies during my mini-vaca as well. There are many fine movies to choose from right now, but I had to go and see the new Tim Burton. Sweeney Tod promised to be a lovely confluence of things that make me happy: Steven Sondheim, Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, Tim Burton’s production design, Alan Rickman… Even if it was campy, I’d have to love it right? Right? ::le sigh:: If you’re looking for a good Burton movie this holiday, go rent The Nightmare Before Christmas. The acting was fine, and Depp does do a remarkable job and Helena Bonham Carter is good, although I feel she’s capable of better. The gore is silly, which is good, but the repetition is too much, and the blood factor is just over the top. Do we seriously need the squelching and gushing for 5 mn straight people? Then there’s the singing. Don’t get me wrong, I do like musicals, but this felt more like an operetta. I haven’t seen the play, so perhaps it’s as music-heavy as the movie, but some of the songs seemed to *kill* the pacing. Just a little more dialogue. Please. I swear, it would have helped. I was disappointed. Maybe others will disagree, I just felt like it had so much potential that it didn’t cash in on.

Anyways, here are a few happier things to keep you distracted as you head back to work this week…

It’s the end of the year, so it must be list-time. A surprisingly amusing list comes from Fortune, and the 101 dumbest moments in business in 2007. Highlights include:

2. Eli Lilly
Thank God. We’ve been so worried since Lucky dyed his hair jet black and started listening to the Smiths.
Eli Lilly wins FDA approval to put Prozac into chewable, beef-flavored pills to treat separation anxiety in dogs.

7. High-tech toilets
Too bad nobody gave one of these to Chuck Prince
Japanese manufacturer Toto apologizes to customers and offers free repairs for 180,000 high-tech toilets – thrones that feature heated seats, air purifiers, blow dryers, and water sprayers – after at least three catch fire. “Fortunately nobody was using the toilets when the fire broke out,” says a company spokesman. “The fire would have been just under your buttocks.”

75. Mummified corpses
The real estate market must be dead over there too
A Spanish bank repossesses a house and puts it up for auction – complete with the mummified corpse of its former owner, who had stopped making mortgage payments six years earlier. The body, preserved by the salty air in the seaside town of Roses, is discovered by the buyer.

And there were a surprising number of MA based items on the list: everyone’s favorite Cartoon Network ads, Frank Gehry being sued by MIT, a BOA branch in Ashland only getting part of an intra-company fax and thinking it’s a bomb threat and those wacky Rhode Island Hospital brain surgeons.

For more lists, there’s Boston Globe Music reviewer’s top picks of the year. Something for every taste in there, and enough variety that it added a couple more CDs to my to buy list. (Seriously, no iTunes gift cards this year?! Where did I go wrong?) Personally, I think Christopher Muther’s, James Reed’s, and Scott Alarik’s are closest to mine, but you go with what feels right. If you’re looking for more out-there music, Stereogum has compiled their outsider’s best-of list, so everyone is taken care of.

Here’s another music-related thing (even if it’s not a list)—a music quiz hosted by LiveNation. It taxed my brain, but I’m sure plenty of you could figure it out.

More meme-isly… How many 5 year olds could you take? Really. It’s funny.

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12 2007